(Yicai Global) Dec. 10 -- Shipments of fifth-generation-enabled mobile phones continued their swift increase last month despite an ongoing drop in overall smartphone shipments, the latest industry data shows.

Sales of 5G phones in China rose to over 20.14 million units in November, compared with the 16.76 million recorded in October, and the just over 5 million during the same month last year, according to the monthly market report released today by the China Academy for Information and Communications Technology, a research institute under the Industry and Information Technology Ministry.

Total 5G phone shipments were about 144 million in the first 11 months.

November 5G mobile phone deliveries made up 68.1 percent of the total during the month, the report added, showing ever more Chinese consumers selecting advanced versions when upgrading mobile devices.

Shipments of all handset types fell 15.1 percent to 29.58 million last month from a year earlier, but handset shipments overall hit 281 million in the first 11 months, also down 21.5 percent on the year.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi